Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

Dirge of Cerberus is a pretty straight-forward shooter, and while basic run-'n'-gun tactics will work fine early in the game, it'll take some fancy footwork to avoid death in the later stages.

There are two things to keep in mind at all times. First, keep your eye on the target. If you're being shot at, shoot back. Often times, your shots will temporarily stun enemies, interrupting their shooting patterns. The second thing to keep in mind is that you need to always keep moving. Whatever you do, always move while fighting with enemies, even if you're just shimmying back and forth. This will make it a lot harder for enemies to hit you but shouldn't disrupt your aiming at all.

Breakable Objects

Most environmental objects are colored with dark, dingy shades, though you'll notice some white items that stand out against their backdrops. These items—including white barrels and white boxes—are destructible.

Shoot at white barrels from a distance to cause them to explode, taking out any enemies nearby. Smash through white boxes and you'll often reveal hidden items to help you through the missions. These white items are usually placed in carefully thought spots. If you see white barrels, don't blow 'em up until there are enemies that'll feel the heat. If there are no enemies near them yet, rest assured that they'll be there soon.

Kill Chains

If you kill multiple enemies in rapid succession, you'll build up a kill chain that counts in the upper-right corner of the screen. You'll be graded based on your kill chains at the end of every chapter, so try to focus on building kill chains to increase the amount of experience you gain at the end of a mission.

One thing that can help build your kill chains is destroying breakable objects. Each item you break, whether it be a white barrel or a white box, will add to your kill chain. You can use them to simply add to your combo, or you can tactfully destroy an item to keep the combo count going. If you go too long without making a kill, your kill chain will end.

Experience and Gil

You build experience as you go through each mission, but it's not until the end of each chapter that you'll be given the chance to level up. You have the option of trading your experience points for extra Gil—10 Gil per experience point—but we recommend you never do this. Always take the experience points.

If you want to quickly build levels, you can retry the same parts of stages over and over again. Each time you die or complete the stage, you'll earn experience points to increase your level. Of course, you can also turn the experience into Gil if you choose, but we found that experience is much more useful.

Weapon Upgrades

You can spend large sums of Gil to power up your weapons at any item shop. The upgrades can be applied to the various parts of your guns, letting you customized the parts you like best.

However, in our experience, such weapon upgrading isn't necessary. We found the game to be much more manageable by conserving our Gil and using it to buy health restoration and Phoenix Down items. Of course, the choice is yours—but if you want to get through the game with the least amount of fuss, you might want to consider foregoing any weapon upgrades and saving your cash for other items.

Limit Break

The Limit Break is one of Vincent's most powerful and effective items. We recommend having at least one Limit Break ready for any given boss fight, as they can turn the tide in your favor when the going gets rough.

Perhaps the best attribute of the Limit Break is its restoration. Activate a Limit Break and your health will automatically refill to 100%. Because of this effect, we recommend saving Limit Breaks for when Vincent is near death to quickly put him back in the game. Limit Breaks also give Vincent a projectile attack that's devastatingly powerful. It knocks down most opponents—including bosses—even before they die, making it great for stalling enemies as they try to attack you.